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| Presley Jewell Martin Born 10/20/13 7 pounds 15 ounces 21 inches long The most beautiful day of my life was Sunday, October 20th. I can't stop the tears of joy when I think about it. Presley came into the world and into our hearts. She is incredibly perfect and beautiful. I am overwhelmed with how amazing this entire experience was. After 8 and a half months of worry, our beautiful angel is here. ~ So here's how it all went down... I had been in an incredibly miserable state since Friday night. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings with my parents to play trivia. At this point contractions had started getting closer together. I wasn't completely sure if it was just awful back pain or contractions. I had been experiencing pain all week. Friday night it started getting pretty intense. I had no idea that the Hacks Cross BWW is apparently where all the St. Louis Cardinals fans go to watch games. I was hoping for a quiet, but distracting night. Man, was I in for it. There were annoying fans cheering like crazy every time a Cardinals player made a play. I was about to lose it. Hormones + contractions = angry angry lady So, we finished up trivia. (Came in 4th) We headed home. Mom and Dad left. My pain starting getting worse and worse and closer and closer together. I couldn't sleep at all. Michael and I started timing the contractions. (I still wasn't 100% sure I was having contractions.) They weren't completely consistent, but they were very close together (about 5 minutes) for the most part. I was feeling so very awful. Michael and I talked and decided it was time to head to the hospital. We ended up there around 1 AM Saturday morning. |
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| Friday Night at the Hospital I wasn't sure they were going to keep us, so when the admissions lady told Michael to take my picture, I was just kind of bleh about it. Sure enough, we end up being sent home that night. The problem was the fact that I was still 3 cm dilated, which I had been at the doctor's office on Tuesday. My cervix very thin, but it wasn't enough for them to keep me. I got very emotional. They offered me some morphine. I was hurting so badly that I said yes but immediately regretted it. At this point, I was still trying to go drug free at birth. The nurse brought it in, but I told her to take it away. She asked why, and I broke down crying. She assured me it was okay for the baby and that it would help me get some much needed rest. I broke down and took it. I felt much better, and did get SOME sleep. We got up that morning. I felt much better, but at that point, the morphine had lost its effect. I was back to feeling the pain, but I was at least happy to have some sleep. I got up and ate the last chocolate chip cookie we had from the day before and a glass of milk. Then, a few hours after being awake, I threw up. I called my doctor's office to make sure this was normal and not a bad side effect from the morphine. The nurse told me that it sounded like my body was getting ready for child birth and that I might want to consider going back to the hospital. My doctor was on call, and she thought he would keep me. I was still scarred from my experience Friday night, so I didn't take her advice. I decided to wait it out until the contractions were 5 minutes apart for 2 hours, like the nurses had told me. Michael had a paper to write Saturday, so he was spending most of the day working on that. I just needed to be distracted, so I called Mom and asked her to please come over and take me out shopping or something. I didn't want to go anywhere by myself, just in case my water broke. First, we headed to Destination Maternity. I had to make a couple of exchanges. The ladies asked me if I wanted a fitting room. I was like, "um, no." The thought of trying to find the strength to actually take off my sweatshirt was gut wrenching. I found what I wanted and we went to the checkout. The girl at the checkout was the slowest I think I've ever experienced. I was ready to punch her. (I'm mean when I'm in labor, apparently!) We went to Target to return some stuff. Now, if you know me, you know that I have an obsession with Target. A $50 credit there isn't going to last long in my wallet. I tried to walk down the baby aisle to look at monitors. I had to sit in one of the rocking chair models and have mom bring them to me. After 5 minutes, I was just like, "Let's go." I couldn't even think. So for the first time ever, I walked out of target without purchasing anything. Mom did get me a Carmel Apple Spice from Starbucks. That would be the last thing I would feel like eating. Our last stop was the Happi Store to look for a baby book. The sales lady here takes the cake. She was very nice, but way to HAPPY! Which, duh, I know it's the Happi Store, but I just wasn't in the mood. She asked me when I was due, and I said, "November 4th, but maybe right now." She chuckled, but I was being very serious. We finally left. I was just ready to be home. We got back home around 4 or so. Michael was watching football and working on his paper. I just wanted to sit on a bag of ice. Mom asked if she could stay and sit with me. I was like, of course. I think she was hoping something would happen soon. My contractions were still furiously painful and frequent, but not frequent enough. Around 8:00, Michael suggested a short walk. He wanted me to time my contractions and see if there was any change when we were up walking. We all walked down the street together. It was soooo cold. We really couldn't figure out a pattern with the contractions. Mom decided to head home. She called me on the way, and said after talking to Dad about what the on call nurse had said, they thought I should go on to the hospital. I still wasn't ready. The contractions still weren't where they needed to be. I still wasn't hungry, but Michael was. He started making spaghetti, and we watched the Ole Miss/LSU game. The spaghetti smelled so good, but I couldn't stomach the thought of eating anything. I tried one bite, and that was it. I went back to trying to lay down, but the contractions kept waking me up. I cannot describe the pain I was feeling. It was just awful. That's the only way to describe it. Before this, the worst pain I had experienced was the norovirus. This made that look like a walk in the park. Finally, at midnight, I went to the bathroom. Hopefully, this isn't TMI. But, I sat down and leaned back in a strange way. I felt a pop and realized that my water had just broke. I called for Michael. We agreed it was definitely time to head back up to the hospital. When we got there, the same sweet lady who had been there the night before was at the admissions desk. She is seriously one of the nicest people I've ever met. I asked Michael if he had any gum, because I had not had a chance to brush my teeth. She said she had some and gave me a piece. She was just super cool. While we waited for the nurse to come get us, I had two or three more contractions. I could barely breathe. I think it was at this point that I decided to throw out my natural birth philosophy and go with an epidural.  Contractions We got back to the room. Our nurse, Melanie, started checking things out. She confirmed that my water had broke, but she said that I was still only 3 cm dilated. My cervix was very thin though. Of course, it had been 80% since Tuesday. I was thinking, if they send me home again, I'm going to scream. She called my doctor, and he decided that I should stay. Thank goodness. She asked about the epidural, and I said, "UM YES!" It took about 20 - 30 minutes of requesting the epidural for the epidural lady to get to me. When she got there, I swear she had a light glowing around her. She was truly an angel from heaven. She was a little demanding though. I had no idea how complicated the process for getting an epidural was since I had planned on doing things naturally. Basically, I had to sit still for 15 minutes while dealing with contractions. Michael and the nurse were holding me so I couldn't move. The lady kept saying, "Don't let her move!" That was one of the hardest parts of the experience. But it was so worth it. See the evidence in the picture below!  I was finally able to give a thumbs up! We had called our parents. Michael's parents had to come from Louisiana. They had had a very busy day. Now, they were having to leave from West Monroe to try to make it here in time. My parents headed over to the hospital and hung out with us in the room. Mom said after seeing me with the epidural that she wished she had gotten one. We watched some bloopers from The Office and napped off and on until about 6:00 AM.  Michael Sleeping  Mom and Dad Sleeping At that point, they said that I was 10 cm dilated and that it was time to push. Melanie was so awesome. When she told me that most new moms push for 2 - 3 hours, I was like, um no. We are going to have this baby out in 30 minutes. Sure enough, I pushed for about 30 minutes. My doctor came in and was ready to catch. It took about ten more minutes for the most beautiful precious little girl to be placed on my chest.  Moments After Birth  Getting Cleaned Up |
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| Janine - She was one of the people who helps the doctor catch the baby. Apparently birth is messy. |
Awesome Nurse Melanie
Awesome Dr. King
World's Greatest Dad
Our sweet family (minus Stella)
-Corrie
Welcome Presley!
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